Democrats Offer Plan To Double Polish Aid

WASHINGTON — House Democratic leaders have devised a $637.5 million aid package for Poland and Hungary that more than doubles the amount President Bush proposed, congressional aides said Monday.

The package, to be formally announced Tuesday, draws from a variety of government agencies and programs and includes food aid, assistance to Polish businesses, technical training, educational and cultural exchanges, and environmental and energy guidance.

Bush, on a visit to Eastern Europe in July, announced a $150 million aid package. He subsequently increased it to $255.5 million, including $100 million in food assistance.

Congressional Democrats have criticized the aid as inadequate, and the issue has turned into a political contest.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on a Democratic-led party line vote last month that most Republicans boycotted, approved a $1.2 billion aid package for Poland and Hungary.

The House Democratic plan includes $125 million in food assistance, $25 million more than the President`s. In another major element, the Democratic proposal calls for $200 million in assistance to Polish and Hungarian businesses, $75 million more than Bush proposed.

In addition, the House Democratic plan would provide $200 million in trade credit insurance, which is aimed at insuring loans made by the Export-Import Bank, an international agency.

Other items include energy and environmental assistance to help find new ways to make the coal that Poland burns cleaner, assistance to Poland`s and Hungary`s fledgling democracy movements and $12 million for cultural exchanges.

``We don`t think the Senate figures can be enacted, as much as we wish they could be,`` said a House Democratic aide with intimate knowledge of the new assistance plan.

``This program is broader and deeper than the President`s,`` the aide said, ``and it doesn`t violate the budget agreement between the White House and Congress.``

Nonetheless, the Democratic alternatives and criticism have put pressure on the Bush administration to increase its aid proposal. Secretary of State James A. Baker III said at the United Nations last week that the

administration is considering raising its aid proposal.

On Monday, administration officials met with House Democratic leaders to urge them to wait for the administration to act before announcing their plans, congressional sources said.

The Senate plan would have paid for the additional assistance out of Department of Defense funds, but the House proposal does not target defense money.

Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell (D., Me.) kept up his drumbeat of criticism of Bush`s plans to aid Poland and called for bolder action.

He applauded Bush`s call for more assistance for Poland from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank but said the United States must do more on its own.

``I believe that America also can pursue a more imaginative policy, capitalizing on American strengths and targeted toward Poland`s specific and immediate needs,`` he said.